The Politics of Guns Are Changing. Politicians Need To Catch Up.

They won't until they are voted out

The question for me is this tide of new owners going to keep on going, or will it falter?

I am firmly convinced saying ANYTHING on this subject now is "risky". That said, I'll tread very carefully (for all the good folks monitoring), and try to stick to a "neutral" position.

Everyone is missing the point.

Firearms are tools; just like hammers, drills, and crescent wrenches. They are designed to increase the ability to do a task. They are not fashion accessories, collectors' items, badges of office, or symbols. No one buys a welding machine because it will look good in the den... they buy it so they can weld things. However, buying a welding machine doesn't make one a professional welder. In that same vein, people are buying guns and ammo at record rates... not because they're becoming "aware" of their 2A rights, or warming to "gun culture"... but because they are afraid of what may be coming. They are preparing to defend themselves from the hordes of violent people they think are coming, to hunt for the food they fear they will no longer be able to obtain at the grocery stores, and protect their families from the chaos ensuring societal collapse they expect.

Most have no clear idea of what any of that entails or means beyond instinct.

Those advocating for increased "gun control" have regularly argued that in our "stable" society, such tools are not needed. They've argued that the official police and military forces are responsible for our security, and that hunting is an anachronism. They've tried endlessly to define differences between weapons along obscure and inaccurate labels. All of that is rapidly unraveling before the realities of a global pandemic and widespread civil unrest born of challenges to law enforcement.

On the opposing side, the arguments in support of "sport" or "recreational" shooting are falling apart too... as fewer people are willing to expend precious and expensive munitions on "competition", and "fun days" at the range. The only people doing so now are those who have just figured out it's harder to put two rounds center of mass then they thought.

The "middle road" is eroding... we either have the right to be lethally armed, or we don't.

What all this means, in my opinion, is that our country is going to have to confront the truth... we are armed, we are divided, and the line between legal self-defense and "combat" is becoming blurrier by the day. My hope and my prayer is that people STOP... look into the eyes of their precious children, consider all the things we are blessed with in this nation... and realize that NONE of these arguments are worth throwing it all away. That is particularly true if what's really motivating all this insanity is delusion, selfishness, greed, or vengeance.

The boys who fought at Gettysburg and Antietam shared a common faith, similar cultures, and fought in ordered ranks with single-shot muzzle-loading muskets led by professional officers. We are split along so many sectarian and partisan lines, it's impossible to know how many "sides" really exist. I assure you they are not as simple as "Right" and "Left". We are not "regimented", but haphazard. There is virtually NO leadership or statesmanship. We are not armed with primitive firearms... but weapons derived from over two centuries of refinement. We DO NOT want to find out what happens when people on a large-scale begin fearing death more than consequences.